Age: Do you know the concept of virtual age? It means that sometimes, your “real” age (the time since you are born) do not correspond to your “virtual” age (the age you have physically, mentally, etc.)

A good example is Tintin (yes, I am Belgian). In his first adventures in 1930, he was 16 years old and looked 16 years old (real age = virtual age = 16) but, surprisingly, in his latest adventures he looked exactly the same (16 years old). However, this happened in 1976 and as a consequence his real age was 62 years old!

How such a thing is possible?

Some serious scientists (at least one and his two young kids) have an interesting theory. You probably know that Tintin’s adventures are full of danger and that mean peoples kept knocking on his head.

According to Cyr et al. (2004 in Can. Med. Ass J), these repeated trauma induced a growth hormone deficiency due to panhypopituitarism and a consequent hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. If you do not understand these last words, it is normal and the first author of the scientific publication describing this major discovery explained it to the two other authors as: hypogonadism: “no hair above the wee-wee because of a missing hormone” and “panhypopituitarism: “a part of the brain that is not working”.

In my case, I have no hair problem and very little head trauma (my mother pretends that I fell in the basement stairs when I was a baby and that it explains a lot of things… I do not know what she means) but there is a big difference between my “real age” (37 years old) and my “virtual mental age” (estimated around 4 years old).

Profession: I am a researcher in marine ecology at the Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences – Kristineberg, one of the marine stations of the University of Gothenburg.

Role in the expedition: I am a “late” participant. I am mainly working on the impact of climate change on marine species. In the last years, I have developed an expertise in the manipulation of seawater parameters and I can now change the conditions in the water to simulate what will happen at the end of the century.

During the expedition, my main role will be to help manipulate the seawater acidity for others experiments (on fish and maybe crustaceans) and make experiments on my own on sea urchins and sea stars.

Hobbies: First of all, I consider my job as a kind of hobbies. I still cannot believe that I am paid to do something as fun as research (do not tell to my employers). However, it takes me a lot of time and energy but it is not my main priority in life. The number one priority on my list is the family. I have a wife and two kids (can I consider my family has a hobbies?) Then I like to read, write, watch movies and TV series, travel, etc. The usual suspects.

And I am Belgian… so I guess that beer can also be considered as a hobbies.

Favorite music: I was a teenager in the 80s and a kid in the 70s. So I was fed with crap disco and was part of the “new wave”. But my biggest musical shock was the rock, the real one (I had a revelation with “High voltage” from ACDC). Now I keep an eye on the Belgian alternative rock wave (Ghinzu, girls in Hawai, etc.)

To play it “Nick Hornby”, let’s say that my top 5 album list is (order does not matter):

– Wish you were here (Pink Floyd)

– High Voltage (ACDC)

– OK computer (Radiohead)

-A night at the opera (Queen)

Favorite movies: I used to go 2 times a week to the cinema. Now that I am leaving in the middle of nowhere, it is 2 times a year and I lost track of the movies of the last 5 years.

I am an easy audience and kind of like everything.

My favorite directors are Clint Eastwood, the Coen brothers, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, David Finsher and all the directors that continue to “surprise me”.

However, there is a renewal of creativity in the TV series and I am a big fan of HBO productions: The Sopranos, Deadwood, Six feet under, Rome, etc.

Favorite book: I am reading a lot. This is my real addiction. I do not have a favorite book but if I had to pick one, it will be “A prayer for Owen Meany” by John Irving. My favorite authors are John Irving, David Lodge, Frank Herbert, James Ellroy, Dennis Lehane, Iain Pears and many others.

Top destination: Thanks to my job, I am travelling a lot and enjoy it. For the moment, I love Asia. I was recently in Japan and liked this “lost in translation” feeling. Being completely lost in another culture, not even being able to read signs in the street or have to communicate with body language rather than with words. The food is also amazing and full of surprises.

Favorite animal: I guess that I should pick my model species, the echinoderms (sea star, see urchins, etc.). In the log of “The Sea of Cortez”, John Steinbeck explains how good men biologists are, “the tenors of the scientific world”. However, he warns us about what he called the “dry-ball”, peoples who are “not really biologists”: “They are the embalmers of the field, the picklers who see only the preserved form of life without any of its principle. (…) The dry-balls cannot possibly learn a thing that every starfish knows in the core of his soul and in the vesicles between his rays.” After spending so many years studying echinoderms, I have developed empathy for them.

One thing to take on a desert island: Does Kate from “Lost” could be considered as a “thing”? Probably not. Let’s be practical then: A knife? Some matches? Antibiotics? A phone?

Gilla

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Responses

Heello Sam beside reading your humoristic AND intelligent answers at the blog, my reason for being here is thar I todsa spoke to this man Erik about the Co2 level he was very interested and maybe you could drop him a line about your measured levels.
Arvin, Erik Professor 45251472 era@env.dtu.dk
Svend Stiig Markager , Seniorforsker ssm@dmu.dk
The other guy Stig is the one doing research in carbon .
Hilsen Mads.